Cost decision making in building maintenance practice in Malaysia

Purpose – The main purpose of this paper is to systematically identify important factors that are considered in decision making of maintenance cost and discuss how these factors affect maintenance performance. Design/methodology/approach – This paper employs triangulation technique, which combines quantitative and qualitative approaches. The paper starts with the identification of dominant factors through literature reviews followed by semi‐structured interviews with ten building managers and questionnaire survey. A set of questionnaires are distributed to 200 selected buildings managers in Malaysia. The results from 62 completed questionnaires form a database for the quantitative analysis. Findings – This paper concludes that the maintenance performance suffers from the insufficient allocation of maintenance cost. The main factors that are usually considered by the building managers in allocation of maintenance costs are availability of funding, client's preference, and economic situation. Associative test results reveal that variance in maintenance cost could be improved by considering condition of building and complaint about building performance during decision making of maintenance cost. Practical implications – This paper provides information for building manager on important factors that need to be considered during decision making of maintenance cost allocation. This would help the manager improve effectiveness and accuracy in preparing a maintenance budget. Originality/value – With the building maintenance sector in Malaysia being conditionally driven and usually carried out only when there is money, it is critical that organization make effective decisions on priority. This paper determines the most important factors in decision making of maintenance budget.